Chapter 1227, Loneliness

The Central Plains had suddenly fallen.

And the speed of the fall was so fast that the Southwest and Northwest didn’t even have a chance to get the news, only a few barriers had Transcendents within them escaping, the rest of the barriers had all turned into Zero’s territory.

After these Transcendents awakened perhaps they did not want to become employees of the Consortium’s tools, so they always hid their deeds and lived the lives of ordinary people.

Regardless of war or disaster, it is as if they have nothing to do with them, they are Transcendents, even if there is a real disaster, they can still live better than others.

However …… who can be spared in this era?

When a real disaster strikes, their loved ones will not be spared, and they themselves will lose their homes.

Indeed, the transcendents are much more capable of coping with disasters, at least they have not been controlled by the AI Zero.

A barrier in the Central Plains had a small number of over 200,000 people, and a large number of people, such as barriers 73, 72, 61, and 62, had as many as millions of inhabitants.

Based on the number of people in the Central Plains alone, the number of inhabitants controlled by Zero was well over ten million.

They would take up weapons, hammers or iron bars or even bricks if guns were not enough.

Looking at the entire southwest and northwest, who could have foreseen that they would have to face such a huge enemy?

Did Qing Zhen, the chess-player, ever think of it? No one could be sure.

But thankfully, Zero Layout had only been around for a short year, and if it wanted to control so many people, then it was bound to give up quality for quantity.

It could only spare a very small number of nanobots to control human brainstems, but it couldn’t make any more powerful nano warriors.

These controlled humans were just ordinary people.

In Barrier 61, Wang Run watched as tens of thousands of residents suddenly hunted him, and no matter how he explained, the other party was indifferent.

In fact, he knew very well that explanations were useless, and Wang Run knew who was actually in control behind these people.

Wang Run briefly exchanged blows with a few residents who were closest to him, and as a result, he realized that those residents who were originally mediocre were as if they had received the secret book from the storyteller overnight, and one by one, they had all turned into fighting masters.

Although the other party’s strength was far inferior to him as a Transcendent, the precisely calculated attacks could allow ten or so ordinary people to equalize Wang Run’s advantage as a Transcendent.

The most frightening thing was that the other party could even calculate the small stones on the road, and Wang Run was forced to step on a small stone accidentally by the other party almost without realizing it, and almost lost his balance.

Wang Run understood that it was no accident that he stepped on a small stone.

He leapt deep onto the roof, no longer caring whether Luo Lan in the courtyard was still there or not.

At this time, the small courtyard where Luo Lan and the others were had already been emptied of people, and Zero was also looking for Luo Lan, but all that awaited it was the empty underground tunnel.

The tunnels were connected to a huge drainage system, which was Luo Lan’s most familiar way of escaping, and also the most skillful.

This intricate drainage system had hundreds of exits, and although Zero was able to send people to block every exit with precision, unfortunately it had missed the best time to capture it while waiting for that decision of its own.

This tunnel, dug by 12 Kei’s sleeper intelligence officers, took two years.

Originally, only six people were actually needed to dig this tunnel, but the first six died in the havoc of the wall-crawler plague.

When the pioneers died, there were 6 more people to fill the gap. Qing Zhen had been planning this escape route for a long time, and he had indeed created a hard way for Luo Lan to survive from the hands of the AI.

……

Below the AI building, the huge underground space was already in disrepair, and the elevator shaft had begun to collapse on a small scale due to the aftermath of the explosion.

The water flow from the underground river flooded the underground space, except that this underground space was a huge concave structure, just like someone had dug out a pocket space on the river wall, in this way, there was still a part of the air at the very top of the underground space that was squeezed at the ceiling.

As for Zhou Qi, at this moment, he was quietly floating on his back in this narrow space, taking a short break.

No one would have expected that Zhou Qi would still dare to return here after blowing up the server unit.

Even Zhou Qi felt that he was just too smart.

But as the saying goes, the most dangerous place would be the safest, and he knew deep down that outsiders wouldn’t be able to get in after the explosion in this place, which just so happened to constitute the safest temporary haven.

Before he used up the last bit of oxygen in this place, Zhou Qi needed to let his mental will recover as much as possible so that he could return to the mud and sand field by water before meeting up with Luo Lan and the others.

Because of the water level squeezing the air, Zhou Qi felt his eardrums sting a little deep within his ears.

After the explosion, this place turned into absolute silence.

No talking could be heard from the top of the Artificial Intelligence Building, and only the clattering and reverberating sound of the water lapping against the walls remained, like the loneliness of a tidal wave lapping into a cave under a sea cliff.

The waves and tides surged into the cavern over and over again, the clattering sound like a question, is anyone there?

But thousands of years have passed, and no one has responded to that greeting.

Floating on his back in the water, Zhou Qi smiled, he felt that his spiritual will should barely be enough to return to the sea, although there was no navigational beacon, he already possessed enough courage to try his luck.

“Going back this time, the taxes from just one ledge won’t be enough,” Zhou Qi sighed, “If it’s possible to return.”

Smiling at the thought, Zhou Qi pressed the 60-minute countdown on his watch before sinking back into the dark waters, making his way upstream.

Just as he had once explored the major water systems as a young man, he was getting the freedom he wanted in the water, along with a free flow of water.

More than once along the way, he took a fork in the road, and time and again returned to the wrong place to start over.

The countdown went from 60 minutes, to 45 minutes.

Then it went from 45 minutes, to 30 minutes again.

Zhou Qi kept searching for a way back, just as he had searched for friendship time and time again, exploring in the darkness without stopping, even though he himself didn’t actually hold out much hope, there was still always a hint of chance in his heart.

Finally, at the moment when the countdown was mobilized to only 2 minutes left, he finally saw the signal tower in front of him, which was tethered by a safety rope and fluttering in the underground river.

Red and blue lights flashed alternately, and this ray of light made Zhou Qi ecstatic.

In the next moment, he quickly climbed upwards from the steel pipes of the drilling platform, and like a fish that had been deprived of oxygen for a long time, Zhou Qi leapt out of the pipes and then landed on the ground next to the drilling platform.

“Haha,” Zhou Qi cheered, “Old me is not dead in a big way, there will be ……”

However, before he could finish his sentence, he realized that there was actually a field of corpses lying in this mud and sand field, and the identities of the corpses were clearly the soldiers of the Qing Clan who had helped him enter the underground river basin before.

It could be seen that these soldiers had been attacked in the mud and sand field before they died, and each of them had finished their respective bullets and eventually died in battle after running out of ammunition.

Until their deaths, there were still twelve people who were dead by the drilling platform.

Zhou Qi woodenly turned his head towards the outside of the plant, and he suddenly saw that there were hundreds of people there looking at him coldly with the same gaze.

Suddenly, these hundreds of people smiled in unison and said, “Zhou Qi, hello.”

Each of their voices was not loud, yet when hundreds of voices converged on everything, it suddenly made Zhou Qi feel that the other person’s voice was as loud as a drumstick, and suddenly struck at his heart.

Zhou Qi attempted to re-drill into the pipe behind him and return to the underground river.

Although his mental will could only last for a minute or two underwater even now, it was still better than the situation at hand.

However, before he could even get close, a bullet struck his foot.

One of those hundreds of people lined up and laughed, “Introduce yourself, I am what you call an AI, you can call me Zero.”

Zhou Qi was stunned, hadn’t he already blown up the other party’s server, why was the other party still able to act as if nothing had happened, and had taken control of so many people?

Looking at the group of people in front of him, there were gun-toting Wang’s soldiers and small children with bricks, it looked as bizarre as it could be.

Zhou Qi was also considered to have been in many battles, but he had never faced such an enemy.

Even if he were to face the terrifying wall-crawler again, he would not have this sense of absurdity that he had now.

This sense of absurdity was more like he had entered a magical, sci-fi world, and his own knowledge of this world was suddenly insufficient, everything was so light and strange.

Zhou Qi was silent for a few seconds before, “Just do it, Lao Zi blew up your server, you get Lao Zi killed, a life for a life, don’t bullshit with Lao Zi.”

“No,” Zero shook his head, “I’ve always been curious about the feelings between humans, so I want to ask you a few questions.”

“Who am I to answer you?” Zhou Qi asked in a cold voice.

“Of course because it will buy you time,” Zero smiled, “The more questions I ask, then the more your mental will will return, and in this way, won’t your ability to face risks be stronger.”

In fact, Zhou Qi knew very well that the other party must have already had a hundred percent certainty of getting himself killed, or else he wouldn’t be talking nonsense to himself at all.

He must not be able to return to the underground river, Zhou Qi could sense that there were at least a dozen more guns aimed at him in this factory building.

But he still can not refuse the temptation of zero, yes, but where there is a little hope of survival, who is willing to give up?

Zhou Qi also counted as a bachelor, he simply sat on the ground next to the drilling platform, in the most comfortable position to ensure the recovery efficiency of his spiritual will.

If it wasn’t for the fact that the scene was a bit out of place, he might have preferred to just lie down.

“Ask, ask whatever you want, but it’s Laozi’s right to answer you back or not,” Zhou Qi said with a big grin.

“I’m curious, why did you make this trip to the Central Plains,” Zero asked.

“Because of the money,” Zhou Qi said with a grin, “Qing Zhen has promised me a whole wall of taxes, and I can still pass it on to my son, why wouldn’t I come for such a high reward?”

Zero asked seriously, “Do you have a son?”

Zhou Qi choked, “Just because I don’t have one now doesn’t mean I won’t have one later.”

“I see,” Zero replied with a smile, “Human beings’ anticipation and deep love for heirs is more like an instinct written into their biological genes, and even if they don’t have any children yet, they’ve already begun to plan for each other’s future.”

“You fucking ……” Zhou Qi this moment are fucking a little bit unclear, this goods is deliberately making fun of their own or what.

Zero said, “Sometimes, the truth may make humans feel like they’re being made fun of, yes?”

“Next question,” said Chouki, not in a good mood.

“In my data, I know that you’re addicted to money, but when I analyzed the logic deeper, I found that the need for money is actually more of a way of behaving to protect yourself, so that your relationship with other people is only about interests and avoiding to generate feelings,” Zero said, “In your opinion, feelings are a terrible thing?”

“Next question,” Zhou Qi still wasn’t ready to answer.

“You were always inseparable from Luo Lan, when you killed the wall crawler at Barrier 61, you had shown a strong protective streak, and had even tried to overdraw your own life in order to protect Luo Lan, why was that,” Zero asked.

“Of course it’s for the money,” Zhou Qi said, “People pay me out of their pockets, I have to be able to afford this money, don’t I?”

“You ……”

“And don’t keep you asking me,” Zhou Qi said impatiently, “I’d like to ask you, don’t you control so many people, why don’t you just ask them? What exactly do you want by keeping this life of mine?”

“Do you think that Luo Lan will come back to save you?” Zero said with a smile.

“Of course not, he said before we started the plan that if I missed the time, they would never wait for me,” Zhou Qi said casually, “This plan is tight, Qing Zhen and Xu Concealment made an extremely well-thought-out retreat plan, it’s not possible for it to change because of me alone, understand? I’ve missed this rendezvous time now, they should be on their way back to the southwest. What, you want to capture Luo Lan?”

“Of course,” Zero said, “Luo Lan is one of Qing Zhen’s greatest helpers, and although Qing Zhen has done a perfect job of keeping his secrets for more than a year now, Luo Lan, as the most special character by his side, might know about many of his plans.”

Zhou Qi raised his eyebrows, why did he feel that the implication of this AI’s words was that Qing Zhen was really able to pose a threat to the other party ah.

In fact, Zhou Qi had already started cursing Qing Zhen in his heart, giving himself scattered plans and not telling himself the causes and consequences.

He thought that after blowing up the server unit, the artificial intelligence is finished, but now it seems that the artificial intelligence is not only not finished, but has become stronger!

How the hell can he justify this?

However, at this time, Zhou Qi suddenly remembered that Luo Lan had said before the mission that this was the most important part of Qingshen’s plan.

That is to say, in fact, Qing Zhen also has a follow-up plan, as to whether it can work, it depends on whether Qing Zhen has expected all this.

Zero said, “Do you think that Luo Lan will come to your rescue?”

“You plan to use me to fish Luo Lan back?” Zhou Qi looked at the young man in front of him who was controlled by Zero and kindly laughed, “Don’t bother, I came to carry out this plan for a fee, so Luo Lan and I are merely in an ordinary trading relationship, he won’t come to save me.”

“I may have a different opinion from yours,” Zero said with a smile.

As soon as these words came out, Zhou Qi’s gaze dropped to the ground, “I’ll be honest with you, in fact, Luo Lan and I have not been on good terms since we were young, after I awakened I was always playing tricks on him with my abilities, making him diverge in his peeing, and also making the water stop when he took a bath, and when it rained in the sky if he didn’t have an umbrella then the rain on top of his head would definitely be the heaviest.”

“Then when everyone grew up, I looked for him to collect money for anything he wanted to ask me to do. Charge for delivering a message, charge for beating someone up, charge for protecting him, there’s no project I don’t charge for Zhou Qi, not only do I charge for it, I’ll add money on the fly. This bastard always said that I fell into the eyes of money, but what else in this world is more solid than money in your pocket?”

“Their lives are bitter, my life is also bitter, their father died early, my father is a gambler, almost sold my mom and I for money back then, they still have a chance to go to Ginkgo Mountain at 18 to change their fate, what do I have? I have nothing,” Zhou Qi took a deep breath and said, “How is it? Am I a screwed up person? Let me tell you, there might really be people in this world who are willing to lay down their lives to save others, but there will definitely be no one who will come and lay down their lives to save me, because I don’t have any friends.”

Zero calmly looked at Zhou Qi, “But earlier when Wang paid out money for you to betray Luo Lan, you didn’t agree.”

Zhou Qi laughed disdainfully, “That was because that old kid Wang Sheng Zhi didn’t give enough money.”

“But this time you risked your life to blow up my server crew, you could have returned,” Zero smiled, “It’s okay, let’s wait a little longer, I think you should also be curious to know if Luo Lan will come back to save you.”

……

Beside the Qianling River Bridge, Xu Conceal jumped out of the SUV and said, “Boss Luo, we can’t wait any longer, Zhou Qi has already missed the rendezvous time by 20 minutes, and we’ve already considered it a violation of discipline now. He was paid to do the job, and it’s his fate to have an accident now.”

Since this was a military operation, discipline was the greatest rule in heaven and earth, it was set when to evacuate, then it had to be evacuated.

It absolutely could not be because of Zhou Qi alone that the safety of Luo Lan and the 183 others was affected.

As a soldier, Xu Concealer was naturally unwilling to continue waiting, his mission was to complete the plan laid out by Qing Zhen, not to save people.

Luo Lan looked to the north, but Zhou Qi’s figure was slow to appear in that direction.

He said to Xu Concealment, “You actually calculated the time of the explosion right, he had originally missed the time to complete his mission in the underground river and should have returned long ago, but he still blew up the server unit.”

“Boss Luo, that doesn’t mean anything,” Xu Concealment shook his head, “Maybe he really did risk his life to blow up the server unit, then you should understand all the more that he doesn’t have a chance to return to the ship, there’s no need for us to continue wasting our time.”

Luo Lan sighed, “That’s pretty damn cold-blooded ……”

“It’s not cold-blooded,” Xu Concealment said seriously, “I’m a soldier, obeying orders is my vocation, if Officer Qing Zhen wants me to bring you back to Qing’s safely, I have to bring you back safely, it doesn’t matter even if I die in the Central Plains myself.”

“What death or not,” Luo Lan laughed, “Alright no more waiting, let’s retreat.”

Saying that, Luo Lan took out his Red Eye of True Sight and walked over to the bridge pillar and pressed the stone on it and rotated it ten times, “Let’s go, this is the fastest way for us to get back to Qing’s, and if I’m not wrong, behind the gate should be the Mule Fort Road at Barrier 111.”

Xu Concealment froze for a moment, Luo Lan had never stepped through that door either, so why was he so sure of the location behind the door?

But it was indeed as Luo Lan had said, this Key Door that Ren Xiaosu had secretly imparted to Luo Lan was indeed the best way to get out of danger.

Xu Concealer sighed in relief, as long as this Boss Luo didn’t go to his death, it was good, otherwise he really couldn’t explain to Officer Qing Zhen.

“Boss Luo, why don’t you go in first,” Xu Concealer stared at Luo Lan closely, he wouldn’t let go of his heart until Luo Lan went in this door.

Luo Lan smiled, “What for, I’m so afraid of death, do you really think I’ll go save Zhou Qi? Don’t worry about it.”

Saying that, Luo Lan stepped into the key door with one foot, followed by 183 people who all disappeared.

Next to the Qianling River Bridge, only Xu Xu’s vehicle was left standing alone.

It seemed that everything in the Central Plains had come to an end here, with nothing to look forward to and no miracles.